Heroic Interlude: The Longstrider Guildhall

The door shuts behind Ladrieth with a click, and she sighs.

Wylahael chuckles. "Have a good night?"

"Fuck, guys." Ladrieth wobbles into the room on unsteady feet. "when you told me this game would help with my dry spell, you weren't kidding."

The guild's main hall is a lot bigger than it strictly needs to be with only three members. It was still available because they grabbed the plot early. Ievos had argued it was "room to grow into." The room was largely barren, the only real furniture being an oversized coffee table and three large couches splayed out around it—one for each of them. They also had a small table lectern in front of each of their couches, and menu screens are hovering above Wylahael and Ievos'. There is also a cup of tea in front of Ievos.

The floor is barren apart from that, and the walls are largely the same, save for one adornment: the axe of Brogung, former goblin chief, mounted on the back wall.

"We were more thinking it would make it easier for you to find another player." Ievos takes a sip of his tea. "It was that good?"

"My butt, throat, and pussy are all sore, and I'm dripping cum." Ladrieth leaned against the back of her couch, palms- first. "It was damn good." She looks down at the couch. "If I sit down, I'll get cum everywhere."

"Store it in the lectern by your bed. It takes a little time, but it cleans your stuff." Wyla gestures to a door leading elsewhere in the guildhall. "There should also be a towel in there."

"Thanks." With that, Ladrieth wobbles deeper into the guildhall. But it isn't long before her guildmates hear her voice again. "Ooh," she says, "there's a photo booth option!"

Ievos mutters something indecipherable into his tea.

Wylahael snorts. "You're just jealous that it wasn't your ass getting reamed."

Ievos' face lights up to a bright crimson, and he turns his eyes pointedly down to his lectern.

When Ladrieth returns, still on wobbly feet, she's completely naked save for her shoes and stockins, and has a sloppily-rolled towel under one arm. She holds up her other hand. "Before you say anything, I don't have any other clothes. I don't do armor, and I spent basically all my cash on the charter."

Wylahael scowled. "Right. Well, the quest is fucked, so we won't be getting a payout. But there's plenty of those."

"Speaking of which," says Ievos, "Wyla said the sidhe was basically the dryad's boyfriend. That sound right to you?"

"Yeah." Ladrieth lays down on her side on the couch, with the towel unrolled under her hip. "From what he said and, uh, did," Ladrieth coughs, "they aren't exclusive, but he was pissed that someone put a hit out on her. And things are actually kinda complicated on top of that."

It takes a few minutes for her to explain everything she learned, and everything that happened.

"Well," says Wylahael, "shit."

"Yeah, not interested in any of that business. The Aldermen should have plenty of quests to keep us going." Ievos drains the last of his tea.

"Realistically," says Wylahael, "we're going to wind up going along with you on this, Ladri, but I think maybe we should wait on formal commitment. See how things play out."

Ievos speaks in the affirmative, and Ladrieth nods in acceptance.

"You know guys," says Ievos, "the way things are going, I think the devs might have finally gotten the immersive storytelling working."

"I read a bit about that," says Ladrieth, "I know the basics, the game's story is supposed to emerge from the system without anybody writing, right?"

Ievos nods. "It was the game's biggest selling point before release. The concept's been around for a while, but this game was supposed to be a few levels up. Words like "truly living world,' and 'narrative singularity' got thrown around."

"Actually," says Ladrieth, "I think I remember you guys mentioning it. That was this game? I thought you guys quit."

Wylahael laughs. "I tried. But NPCs in all the other full-dives feel too robotic. You know how talking to them here feels like talking to a real person? Nobody else has been able to copy it. Once I got a hit of this place, I couldn't go back. And not for lack of trying—I was salty for months."

"And everyone else was worse, "says Ievos, "the internet was basically on fire for a while there. You really didn't hear about it?"

Ladrieth shrugs. "Guess I just got lucky."

"I could use some of your luck."